The former mayor of Yaiza, José Francisco Reyes, left the Tahíche Penitentiary Center on Wednesday morning, where he has been in provisional prison since October 4, to appear again before the magistrate of the Court of Instruction Number 2 of Arrecife, María Dolores García Benítez. Before the judge, Reyes retracted the first statement he made after being arrested, in which he admitted to receiving money from businessmen, linked to the granting of illegal licenses.
Reyes himself requested to testify again, after signing a new lawyer for his defense, related to the Malaya case. The lawyer Pablo Luna, also a lawyer for the former mayor of Marbella, Marisol Yagüe, accompanied the former mayor this Wednesday in his new appearance before the judge, in which he stated that he made his first statement "under pressure".
After listening to his new testimony, the judge again ordered the transfer of José Francisco Reyes to the Tahíche Penitentiary Center, where he will continue in provisional prison.
Six names
In his first statement, Reyes even gave the names of businessmen who supposedly gave him money, which led to six new charges in this case. However, this Wednesday he has not clarified why he then provided such specific data and implicated other people.
One of them was the lawyer Ignacio Díaz de Aguilar, legal representative of Las Coloradas S.A., whom Reyes pointed out in his first statement, stating that "he helped him at the time." According to the statement in the summary of the case, the former mayor stated that "the money was given to him in collaboration for the party issue, or something like that", doing so "so that the procedures would be expedited and done faster".
The former mayor went on to assure that Díaz de Aguilar "personally gave him cash", not "remembering the amount", but "possibly about seven or eight million pesetas".
Reyes was also especially explicit in his first statement regarding the businessman José Francisco Riquelme, representative of Papagayo Arena S.L. and Explotaciones Hoteleras Nueva Valencia. Reyes had stated before the judge that he gave him "cash, although he does not know the amount or the date of delivery", to "speed up the procedures in what could be legal". In addition, he pointed out that he received the money after delivering the licenses, "not when they made the request", and that "they gave it to him as thanks for the procedures that were carried out".
In addition, the businessman Joaquín Cañada, as well as Simón Camacho and Marcelo Machín, accused of alleged crimes of money laundering and embezzlement of a subsidy, were also cited as defendants after Reyes' statement.
Pending to declare
To these five defendants is added the businessman José Rafael Mesa, who is still pending to declare before the judge. Regarding Mesa, Reyes said in his first statement that he granted him a license for an apartment complex. Later the company, Gestiones de Desarrollos Janubios, "lent" an apartment to one of the daughters of the former mayor, Beatriz. "It was left to her for a time that has been longer than expected," Reyes said in his statement, adding that he himself asked Rafael Mesa for the "favor."
Despite the fact that Reyes has gone back on his confession, the indictment of the six accused remains, pending new decisions by the magistrate, and it will be Justice that determines which statement has greater validity: whether the one made this Wednesday, or the confession made on October 4.
